INSECTS PRODUCING WAX, RESIN, HONEY, MANNA. 71 



lien, are hatched from eggs of a considerable size, 

 and cover the trees about June. They are soon ob- 

 served to secrete a sort of viscous liquid, which 

 adheres to the branches, and transforms itself slowly 

 into a kind of grease or white wax. In September 

 this grease adheres so firmly to the branches that it 

 is difficult to remove it. The more sap the tree 

 yields the more wax the insect produces ; it would, 

 therefore, be interesting to try the effects of some 

 of our artificial manures upon these trees and their 

 insect burden. The insect appears to nourish itself 

 upon the sugar contained in the sap, which it trans- 

 forms into a liquid grease, becoming solid on con- 

 tact with the air. Although insects are certainly 

 instrumental in causing the production of several 

 varieties of wax, it is not proved that they promote 

 the formation of the Japan wax furnished by Rhus 

 succedanea, a plant extensively cultivated in Japan 

 and China. The wax of this shrub is now being 

 imported in England in enormous quantities. 



I must now allude to bees. I really dread the 

 task of saying anything about these insects, so fami- 

 liar to all, and upon which so many useful and in- 

 structive volumes have already been written ; but 

 on account of their utility to man, bees have long 

 since been placed upon the first rank among domes- 

 ticated animals. An ancient historian, Niebuhr, 

 states that he met between Cairo and Damietta a 



